Tenant billed admin fee in 6 yrs since departure

A Sydney family was still being billed an administration fee for the rent of a home six years after leaving the property, a weekend report claimed.

The family, which had rented a property in Blacktown, had been charged $8.91 every three months since 2005, The Sun Herald reported yesterday.

The fee was part of a direct debit card service provided by Corum Real Estate Services.

According to The Sun Herald, in an email sent on August 31, Corum told Mrs Brown that the company was ''within our rights to refuse any reimbursement to you, after a review and as a gesture of goodwill, we will reimburse 50 per cent of the service fees incurred following property vacation''.

The report said the tenant, Andrea Brown, believed the administration fee would stop once she departed the property.

The Tenants Union of NSW, Chris Martin, told the newspaper that “charging tenants for the privilege of paying their rent is outrageous.'' He added under new laws tenants should receive at least one free rent payment system.

The report also quoted Heather Taplin, from Tenants ACT in Canberra, who said they had received 55 complaints from across Australia - one from a tenant repeatedly charged over 12 years.

The acting president of the Real Estate Institute Association, Pamela Bennett, told The Sun Herald that "it's not fair to charge something after someone is no longer using the service."

A Sydney family was still being billed an administration fee for the rent of a home six years after leaving the property, a weekend report claimed.

The family, which had rented a property in Blacktown, had been charged $8.91 every three months since 2005, The Sun Herald reported yesterday.

The fee was part of a direct debit card service provided by Corum Real Estate Services.

According to The Sun Herald, in an email sent on August 31, Corum told Mrs Brown that the company was ''within our rights to refuse any reimbursement to you, after a review and as a gesture of goodwill, we will reimburse 50 per cent of the service fees incurred following property vacation''.

The report said the tenant, Andrea Brown, believed the administration fee would stop once she departed the property.

The Tenants Union of NSW, Chris Martin, told the newspaper that “charging tenants for the privilege of paying their rent is outrageous.'' He added under new laws tenants should receive at least one free rent payment system.

The report also quoted Heather Taplin, from Tenants ACT in Canberra, who said they had received 55 complaints from across Australia - one from a tenant repeatedly charged over 12 years.

The acting president of the Real Estate Institute Association, Pamela Bennett, told The Sun Herald that "it's not fair to charge something after someone is no longer using the service."